Leaders of Britain's postal workers have threatened a national strike after the head of Consignia disclosed shock plans to axe up to 30,000 jobs over the next 18 months.

Leaders of Britain's postal workers have threatened a national strike after the head of Consignia disclosed shock plans to axe up to 30,000 jobs over the next 18 months.

Chief executive John Roberts revealed yesterday to a committee of MPs that tens of thousands of posts could be cut as the group moves to reduce costs in the face of increasing competition and huge losses.

This comes on top of a reduction of around 10,000 in the organisation's 200,000 staff over the past year.

The disclosure stunned officials at the Communication Workers' Union last night, who warned of industrial action to fight any compulsory redundancies.

Deputy general secretary John Keggie called 30,000 a "Harry Potter figure".

The union warned earlier this year that up to 15,000 jobs could be lost under plans to make £1.2 billion of savings.

Mr Keggie said he was "astonished" Mr Roberts had not mentioned the 30,000

figure in talks this week on job security.

He said: "Cutting 30,000 jobs would be a huge chunk of the workforce.

"It is extremely disappointing that the board has refused to share this kind of information with the union.

"We are making it clear that there will be no strike before Christmas, but unless they change their view we will have to take strike action to defend the service in the long-term for the customer."

Mr Roberts told the House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee that up to 30,000 jobs would be cut at Consignia, formerly the Post Office, as part of a £1.2 billion savings package to get the organisation out of the red.

It is hoped the bulk of the cuts will be reached through natural wastage, voluntary redundancies and outsourcing of contracts for cleaning and catering, he told MPs.